Industry data from New York City-based Trepp LLC shows an overall positive trajectory for CMBS debt as there are more loans on the books, fewer delinquencies, lower overall delinquent balances and delinquency rates and a higher aggregate loan balance in the Detroit-Warren-Livonia metropolitan statistical area.

All of that bodes well — for now — for the local real estate market, which relies on the CMBS financing for a variety of things, including building purchases and debt refinancing, among others.

"There is still plenty of capital available in the marketplace," said Dennis Bernard, founder and president of Southfield-based Bernard Financial Group. "We are in the ninth inning of an extra-inning game of the real-estate cycle. It's long and nobody knows when it will end. But unlike in the past, underwriting has stayed appropriate."

The region's borrowers are faring slightly better than the national average, according to Trepp data. Overall, the national delinquency rate was 3.42 percent in October, compared to 5.21 percent in October 2017, while Southeast Michigan's fell to 2.86 percent in October from 5.08 percent in October 2017, according to Trepp.

Not everything is necessarily rosy. A national expert warns of possible broader disruption in commercial real estate finance in the next 6-18 months, although not in the CMBS market.

"The question of the next commercial real estate finance disruption is not a matter of when, but how," writes K.C. Conway, the chief economist for the CCIM Institute, in a new report issued last week.

"It will not be caused by a subprime mortgage crisis or overleverage in the commercial mortgage-backed securitization market. The likely suspects this time around will be a combination of rising interest rates and a disruption in liquidity for commercial real estate lending as a result of accounting, regulatory and financial product shake-ups."

The total commercial real estate debt loan in the United States is $4.1 trillion, according to the report, called "Commercial Real Estate Finance Disruption: Deja Vu or Something New?" Of that, 9.1 percent is CMBS debt while the majority, or 52.7 percent, is from commercial banks. Life insurance companies provide 11.6 percent of the CRE financing, the report says.

Still, however, local experts remain optimistic moving forward for a variety of reasons. Industrial and office vacancy rates remain low. The industrial market, in spite of last week's news from General Motors that it plans to shutter two local plants and three others, continues to enjoy record-high leasing rates and high occupancies.

"The occupancies are up, especially with industrial and flex. They are probably at an all-time high. We are seeing market vacancy less than 5 percent for industrial and flex space in metro Detroit," said Matthew Shane, managing director of Birmingham-based Lutz Real Estate Investments.